Strategic View: Following a proven model, a Canadian pension giant and EQT have formed a club deal for the £1.2 billion take-private of ‘Kinetix,’ a UK-listed gaming tech provider. This continues the “public-to-private” trend, with pension funds deploying their massive infrastructure-like capital into tech assets with stable, long-term cash flow.
Full story: The “Canadian Pension Model” is in full effect. A major Canadian pension fund, known for its long-horizon infrastructure plays, has teamed up with European private equity giant EQT. Their target: Kinetix, a £1.2 billion UK tech firm that provides essential backend services for the global video gaming industry.
This is a classic “public-to-private” club deal, and it’s a model that is dominating 2025. The Canadian fund sees Kinetix not as a volatile tech stock, but as “digital infrastructure.” The company provides the essential “picks and shovels” for the gaming world, generating sticky, recurring revenue—much like a toll road or a data center.
By forming a club with EQT, the pension fund gets the best of both worlds. It gets EQT’s deep operational and tech-sector expertise to drive the company’s growth and efficiency. In return, EQT gets a capital partner with a “patient” timeline, one that isn’t obsessed with a 3-year flip. They can execute a 5-to-7-year growth plan.
This deal is a clear signal that the lines are blurring. The largest, most sophisticated pension funds are no longer just LPs. They are now co-equal partners with the biggest PE sponsors, using their massive balance sheets to lead club deals and acquire the “infrastructure” of the new economy.
Summary: This £1.2B take-private shows how Canadian pension funds are leading club deals to buy “digital infrastructure” assets disguised as tech companies. It matters because it proves the “patient capital” model is aggressively moving into PE, using club deals to deploy billions into cash-flowing tech platforms.
Source: Financial Times
